Why You Feel Lonely This Summer (Even When You're Texting Everyone)

More than half of college students — 57%, according to a 2024 Active Minds survey of nearly 44,000 — report feeling lonely, and those who do are more than four times as likely to experience severe psychological distress. The culprit isn't a lack of friends; it's a loss of infrastructure. Campus generates connection automatically through proximity, repetition, and accidental contact — the hallway run-ins and dining hall conversations you never had to schedule. When the semester ends, that system disappears, and texting harder doesn't replace it. The fix is one recurring anchor — a class, a weekly volunteer shift, anything that puts you in the same room with the same people on a predictable schedule — so connection has a structure to grow from again.